Imagine a hockey game, but replace the ice with a roller rink. Swap out the baggy jerseys for fishnet hose and tank tops, and abandon ordinary names in favor of pseudonyms like Dirty Bird, Vanity Kills, and Ophelia Ballz. What you have is a reasonable facsimile of women's roller derby. The scoring is completely different, but both sports are rowdy, raucous and sometimes punctuated with fights between the players.

Unlike professional hockey players, the vast majority of roller derby participants are unpaid. Most actually spend money on the sport -- they purchase their own equipment and pay monthly dues to support their leagues. Teams usually practice several times a week, and injuries are common. With body checking, elbows flying and a bit of trash talking, it's a full contact sport at it's finest.

Since every league is the product of its skaters' efforts, no two are exactly the same. But a few traits are common across the board. Skaters tend to wear uniforms that give their team a distinct identity. They also adopt a persona for their competitions, complete with a skate name -- usually a double entendre.

Redding Roller Girls, LLC is an amateur Roller Derby Club, chartered by USA Roller Sports, in accordance with its rules and regulations. Its teams participate in inter-league, as well as intra-league play. Each 'bout' is conducted following the rules of play published by the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, as modified for local conditions.